They took things slow the next three days.

Mornings consisted of clearing the latest square. The off-Healers were cycled into the fighting group in the place of three of the Buffers to give them some extra experience and practical combat experience.

The slower pace frustrated Patrick at first, but he quickly found other projects to occupy his time. When they finally cleared 22E, the groups were fighting like it was second nature. Circe found herself a new bow and even though it only had one stat line on it, it was still an upgrade over the one she had been using since the second floor.

Penelope continued to pass on gear, not that it was difficult considering nothing dropped that would have been an upgrade for her. She also hit level 27, which increased her Speed and Magic by a point and earned her the <Overstock Mana> passive again.

Patrick gathered everyone in front of the barrier to 23A on the morning of day 21.

"Pen did an assessment of the monsters last night and we've come up with a strategy we believe will be similar to what we've been using." The balding man shifted his helmet under his arm. "I'm going to go over it one more time so we've got it down."

"Don't you think talking about this where the Demons can hear us is a bad idea?" Fae-Anna raised her hand.

"I don't think it's going to matter." Patrick pointed at the square. "The green spider-looking things are Moss Walkers and those are the Tanks. Their passive says barkskin, but it looks like moss to me. Either way, I'm betting they're more flammable than the Horned Bears were, so I'm not anticipating them to be much of a threat against our burn squad." He motioned at the fire Casters. "We burn those down fast and they have nothing to soak up the damage."

He pointed at the next monster. "The blue squid things are Flying Squid. They're a Power monster and don't have any type of ink or paralytic attack that I'd expect. It looks like they just get close to you and try to strangle you to death, so if one floats close to you, don't let it grab you."

"What you don't see out there is the Feypillas." Frederica cut in front of him. "That's because they are invisible. Our Buffers and Pen are going to keep <Clairvoyance> up at all times so they can keep an eye on the invisible bugs." She motioned at Penelope. "Pen, you want to describe them to people?"

"They're five feet tall, fuzzy, with insect wings, and covered in eyes in the biblical definition of an angel." Penelope shook her head. "They've got <Hypnosis> and <Nightmare>, so these are going to be my primary focus since I'm the only one out here with offensive capabilities that can see invisible things."

"Which means she's not going to be moving people around the field as much." Patrick raised his voice as he looked over at Frederica and Nina. "The Healers aren't as big of a concern though, because these monsters have <Targeted Heal> instead of <Wide Heal>, so we just have to be able to burn them down faster than they can heal." He looked over at the Casters. "Use AoEs as much as you can and we should be able to just damage through the heals."

"That's why you said it didn't matter if they knew what we were doing." Circe snapped her fingers. "This is just one of those damage check things."

"I have no clue what you're talking about, but sure." Patrick turned back to look into the square. "Anyway, we talked about how the Healers, those quill-covered, hedgehogs—"

"They have duck feet on the back and claws on the front." Circe squinted at the monsters. "How is that a hedgehog?"

"And their quills are only on their back." Nina pointed at the Healer monsters. "Porcupine would be a better creature."

"It's called a Pin Prick!" Patrick threw up his hands. "It's a demon creature! It doesn't matter which things from back home it looks more like." He pointed his sword at the closest Healer. "There are only nine of them, which means they can only heal nine things at a time. Focus on whatever isn't being healed and kill it before they swap targets."

"Yes, SIR!" Circe saluted, which earned her a glare from Patrick.

Patrick shook his head. "The big thing that is going to slow us down is the Winged Ursa." He turned to the black and white striped monster with golden wings. "It's got a spell called <Golden Aura> that reduces damage that its allies take in a set area." He glanced at Penelope. "It doesn't stack?"

"That's what the description says." Penelope swallowed.

"So now I'm a description?" Jeru snorted.

Don't start with me. Penelope grumbled as she swatted at the incorporeal Elf.

Jeru laughed as he floated out of her reach.

Penelope ignored the look the others gave her and pointed at the last monster. "The thorny potato monsters are close-ranged spellcasters; everything in their kit is up close, so you're going to have them up close with the melee monsters."

"Are you going to let me eat those?" Patrick pointed at the Spudragora.

"They walk on two feet." Frederica shook her head. "You know the rules."

"But what if we cut them open and they're full of meat like a potato?" Patrick countered.

"It walks on two legs." Raelyn made a face. "We're not eating that."

"I bet if it was a walking chocolate bar, you'd let us eat it..." The balding man grumbled as he tugged on his helmet. "Whatever, let's go!"

The other two groups hurried to get into place, then Patrick moved through the barrier with Penelope right behind him. He erected the bunker that he made in each square to keep the back units safe.

Once the roof was in place, Penelope took Circe and Whitney onto the roof with her and moved her orbital setup forward, keeping them in a tight group so she could blast the invisible monsters with three <Light Bolts> at once. It took four hits to kill the first fuzzy monster; the other two casts of the spell burned into the ground.

Ding!

Experience +.33

The pink-furred winged worm materialized where everyone could see it. The hundred eyes stared in almost every direction. Penelope checked her menu to see where her experience was at.

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2609.33 out of 2700. Penelope shifted her focus to look for the next invisible creature. This is going to take a while.

"You're overleveled by four levels." Jeru snarked. "You know this is the part of the floor where leveling gets really slow."

What even am I going to get? Penelope found another Feypilla and directed her <Light Balls> within range. This time, it took all six blasts to kill the monster. Once it materialized, the golden aura around it took a moment to bleed off.

"You're Aura is too low to get <Invisibility>, but you could grab <Hide Presense>, it'll keep the monsters from targeting you if there is another person around unless you unload on them." Jeru pointed at the two approaching blue-robed Shadow Demons. "Like this wouldn't be a problem."

I'm on it. Penelope spread her <Light Balls> out and shifted her focus to casting <Counterspell> before the Shadow Debuffers could snuff out her spells. "CIRCE! I've got water Casters coming into range!"

"I got you!" Circe stepped forward, unleashing a volley of shadow-coated arrows at the closest Debuffer.

Whitney blew a stray strand of blonde hair out of her face as she focused on the other one. Both women had earned the passive <Long Ranged>, which doubled how far they could shoot. This allowed them to hit any spell user that could target one of Penelope's spells while still staying safe from enemy fire.

The two Shadow Demons scrambled away from the arrows. The one in front lost its head to Frederica's daggers. The second one tripped as it attempted to change course, falling on its rear as it tried to scoot away from the woman looming over it.

"Pen…" Circe changed her focus to the Spudragora that turned their focus on the exposed woman down below.

"I'm getting her." Penelope <Blinked> through her <Light Ball> and appeared beside her friend. "Time to go." Penelope grabbed the back of Frederica's leather jacket as the older woman slammed both of her blades into the Shadow Debuffer's face.

The Demon melted, leaving behind the pile of gear while the two women <Blinked> away from the barrage of thorny projectiles that filled the space they had just been in.

"Thanks for the assist." Frederica grinned as she ducked behind the cover of the side of the Bunker, then melted back into the shadows.

Penelope shook her head. She's getting bolder now that we figured out how to reset her invisibility.

"Technically, her <One With the Shadows> isn't invisibility but a means of allowing herself to walk in the shadows." Jeru corrected. "A strong <Light> spell would be able to create a barrier that even she wouldn't be able to cross."

Because there wouldn't be any shadows for her to travel through.

"Not quite." Jeru pointed at the thin black line that snaked its way behind Penelope. "She can extend the shadows that she's in, but there's only so far she can stretch it before she runs out of shadow and has to step out." He pointed at the tree where the shadow disappeared. "As long as there's a close enough shadow for her to run to, she'll be able to stay in it, though."

Penelope filed that information away for later, then <Blinked> back up on the roof. There was still a lot of monsters left to kill and she needed to finish off the Feypillas before anyone got hurt.

Monster Stats

Winged Ursa

Stamina 70

Mana 104

Power 7

Defense 18

Speed 10

Magic 14

Recovery 8

Aura 30

Passives: Winged, Thick Hide

Skills: Golden Aura, Barrier, Roar

Pin Pricks

Stamina 70

Mana 104

Power 18

Defense 7

Speed 10

Magic 14

Recovery 30

Aura 8

Passives: Targeted Heal

Skills: Poisoned Barbs, Natural Heal, Poison Cure

Spudragora

Stamina 80

Mana 94

Power 14

Defense 8

Speed 18

Magic 30

Recovery 7

Aura 10

Passives: Thorns

Skills: Explosive Voice, Thorny Explosions, Vine Lash

Flying Squid

Stamina 116

Mana 58

Power 30

Defense 10

Speed 18

Magic 8

Recovery 7

Aura 14

Passives: Flight, Suckers

Skills: Wrap, Lash

Feypilla

Stamina 116

Mana 58

Power 10

Defense 18

Speed 30

Magic 8

Recovery 7

Aura 14

Passives: Winged, Non-Threatening

Skills: Invisibility, Hypnotize, Nightmare

Moss Walker

Stamina 110

Mana 64

Power 7

Defense 30

Speed 18

Magic 14

Recovery 10

Aura 8

Passives: Barkskin, Dual Focus

Skills: Look At Me, Pierce

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